Michael Fullan - Coherence: The Right Drivers in Action for Schools, Districts, and Systems

Coherence is a book that demands actionit moves from the narrative of fixing one teacher at a time to asking about the coherence of the system (be it school, national, or world issues). Fullan and Quinn create an important narrative about direction, working together, deepening learning, and securing accountability. The book sparkles with examples of coherence in action; it makes no excuses for employing the wrong levers of change. This is the blueprint for a new vocabulary of education action; it shows where we need to go next, and is another example of Fullan at the top of his game.

John Hattie, Director Melbourne Education Research Institute and Author ofVisible Learning

I love this booktimely, practical collaborative action! In an era of overload, frustration, and fatigue, Coherence offers an extremely timely, necessary, and practical alternative to improving education. Coherence is essentially about the power, potential, and promise of people working collaboratively: the humanity and professional capacity of educators seeking to lead, learn, and teach to realize the persistent moral purpose of supporting all students to succeed. A hallmark of Coherence is that the principles and actions are grounded in practical examples from schools, districts, and entire education systems. We desperately need coherence; this book provides a vital framework for collective action!

Carol Campbell, Associate Professor

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto

With the improvement of student learning at the center, Coherence assists educational leaders at every level to choose strategic drivers for change, learn collaboratively, and deliver results collectively. Fullan and Quinn nail the solution: building coherence is an ongoing process that focuses on quality implementation of a small number of powerful goals that improve student learning. The Coherence Framework pushes and supports all leaders to improve their practice in the service of students.

John Malloy, EdD, Assistant Deputy Minister

Leadership and Learning Environment Division Ministry of Education

School systems that struggle are often riddled with incoherencemismatched strategies, competing cultures, and illogical initiatives. In their highly informative book, Fullan and Quinn clearly explain how coherence can solve the problem. Based on solid research and lessons drawn from effective practice, Coherence provides a comprehensive model to guide educators as they learn and lead their way to better schools.

Susan Moore Johnson, Jerome T. Murphy Research Professor

Harvard Graduate School of Education

Coherence is a must-read for educators and politicians who are ready to talk the walk and take action with the right drivers. As a site and district leader I learned from reformers and researchers alike, but I struggled to operationalize what I had learned to benefit the adults and students I served. In Coherence, Fullan and Quinn clearly articulate a plan for operationalizing the right drivers throughout the systemschool site, district, county, state, and nation.

Wes Smith, Executive Director

Association of California School Administrators

Coherence

The Right Drivers in Action for Schools, Districts, and Systems

• Michael Fullan
• Joanne Quinn

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How do you turn overload and fragmentation into focus and coherence? This is what this book is about.

We have been involved in developing coherence for student learning in districts and systems (provinces/states) since 1988. We have helped practitioners do this, but more than that, they have helped us understand the details. This workbringing about system change within reasonably short timelineshas become increasingly clear. It is difficult to do but not overwhelming. And once you get the knack of it, the process of change moves more quickly and deeply (see Fullan, in press).

Part of the subtitle of the book is right drivers in action. In 2011, one of us, Fullan, wrote a policy paper titled Choosing the Wrong Drivers for Whole System Reform (2011a). The wrong drivers were external accountability, individualism, technology, and ad hoc policies. The corresponding right drivers were capacity building with a focus on results, collaboration, pedagogy, and systemness (coordinated policies).

The wrong drivers paper immediately hit a responsive chord especially at the middle (district and regions) and school levels. Many leaders embraced the distinction and were quick to denounce the wrong driver tendencies of policy makers. But our drivers paper was not a plan of action (if you like, it was better at describing what not to do than it was at figuring out what actually to do). Thus, Coherence represents going into action with the right drivers as the foundation.

The Coherence Framework has four components: focusing direction, cultivating collaborative cultures, deepening learning, and securing accountability. Separate chapters delve deeply into each of the components. We will also show how the four elements intersect to form a dynamic whole and how leadership at all levels is essential for integrating the core ideas. The action framework we have developed aligns to the original four right drivers as follows: